


A Matter of Luck

by Kitkatthetastysnack



Category: One Piece
Genre: Canon-typical violence at worst, Gen, Marine AU (kinda - Zoro is a marine but none of the other Strawhats are), There may be shipping but this is not a ship-centric fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-28 20:19:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13911432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitkatthetastysnack/pseuds/Kitkatthetastysnack
Summary: On many occasions, Zoro had found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. It wasn't often that it mattered terribly much, but all it took was one outlier to throw his entire life into chaos. (Or maybe order?)-It was becoming clear that the marines had more than their share of issues. While Coby certainly wasn't the best or brightest, he would absolutely be the one to fix them.





	A Matter of Luck

Over the few months he’d been enlisted in the marines, Coby had become something of an open book. This wasn’t to say that he had ever been particularly hard to read. In fact, the closest he’d ever managed was a tight tongue, true feelings visible through his face and body language despite his greatest efforts. It would be a bit more accurate to say that he had grown to be far less terrified by this fact.

Upon his first day as a chore boy, he had been certain of his need to virtually erase the past. Instead, he had found himself uplifted at every turn. The marines in Shells Town had accepted him, and Garp had chosen him. Since then, his boss had even condoned his friendship with one of the foremost upcoming pirates in the world. While he still wasn’t eager to come forward about the last two years of his life, with what he’d seen of the Vice Admiral, he had a feeling his past would be overlooked in favor of his abundant loyalty. That being said, there was one thing he could never share with Garp.

Coby’s hands shook as he grasped at the stack of papers. _Three hundred million._ The picture was the same as it had been the first two times (Luffy’s gritty, bruised face grinning at the camera like the photographer was his best friend), but the number... The number was three times what it had been before, and ten times the initial price on his head.

Logically, he knew he should be upset about it--worried, for the number of people targeting his friend would only go up as the government offered more and more money to the one who brought in his head--but no such emotions plagued him. Instead, all he felt gathering in his stomach were fluttery feelings of pride.

The Vice Admiral would be furious to see him sitting there, hunched over on his bed and grinning down at the latest batch of bounties, and even more so to find both his grandson’s previous bounties and a selection of related news articles stashed beneath the mattress. That was where their stances differed: where Coby was glad for his friend’s success and happiness, Garp was livid that Luffy hadn’t chosen the path he’d laid out for him. Where Coby was overjoyed, Garp was terrified.

“Hey.”

He went stiff, barely stifling the scream that threatened push past his jaw. There was a snicker, and Coby let himself breathe.

“Whatcha got there?” the intruder taunted lightly, sitting down on the bed next to him and peering down at the picture held above Coby’s crossed legs. He let the man do as he would, because if there was one thing he wasn’t, it was a snitch. (A fact which sometimes frustrated Coby as much as the alternative.)

“So _this_ is Garp’s grandson,” Isra remarked, nodding his head thoughtfully, “I haven’t actually seen him before now, despite the number of times he’s made the news. The papers always get destroyed before anyone else can get near.”

He didn’t need to tell Coby about that. He and everyone else with eyes on the ship knew about Garp’s response to newspapers detailing the young pirate’s exploits--not that many knew piracy was the crime at hand.

Isra clicked his tongue, “His face doesn’t fit the bounty.”

That had Coby grinning once more.

“He is surprising like that,” he replied, and maybe it sounded a bit cryptic, but that was as straightforward as he could be without mentioning specifics.

“How about his crew?”

“Ah! Well I’ve never met any of them,” Coby laid Luffy’s poster off to the side, and handed the rest of the stack to Isra, “but here are their bounties. Most of them are initials too.”

Unlike Isra (or anyone else on the ship for that matter), Coby had managed to keep up with the news. Deployed marines could and did get mail, and while most chose not to use that ability to have newspapers delivered, Coby had always had a minor interest in what went on around the world. A major interest, since he’d regained his freedom and was quickly becoming more and more involved in it.

“These are some pretty decent bounties, especially for crew members,” Isra said as he flipped through the papers.

Coby felt another surge of pride. Of course Luffy’s crew members had impressive bounties--the boy would surely settle for no less than the best on his mission to conquer the pirate world.

Then Isra laughed, and before Coby could react in any sort of offense, the stack was facing him once more. He hadn’t seen that one yet. (He’d barely seen Luffy’s.)

“I really hope this drawing is as bad as I think it is,” Isra snickered, and the teen couldn’t help but agree, “I’d pity anyone cursed with a face like that.”

The dark eyes staring lifelessly off the page had Coby nodding his head fervently.

\--

“This smells delicious!” the fifteen year old gaped as he stepped into the galley, fidgeting with the yellow bandana tied a bit too tightly above his brow.

“You say that every day,” Helmeppo yawned, stretching his arm across his chest.

“Because it’s true!”

“Yeah..” the blond admitted sluggishly, “Yeah, it is.”

Making a beeline through the half-dead marines who had dominated the center of the room, the two made their way to the end of the bar along the back, each grabbing one of the large, white plates stacked at the end.

Their selection of food was… a little intimidating, if Coby was being honest with himself. He knew from experience that everything offered was well-worth having, yet he also knew that attempting to do so was a plan doomed to fail; there were always at least three entrees available, and easily triple the number of sides. It was the largest selection of food he’d ever had to choose from

While Helmeppo dove right in, Coby gave himself a moment to take in what he was looking at. Grilled fish, miso soup, a large omelette, french toast, eggs scrambled with cheese, takoyaki… He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had takoyaki, and as simple of a dish as it was, it called out to him.

A slender, brown arm draped itself over his shoulders, and Coby only flinched a little.

“You’re getting better,” his assailant said while the blond snickered, “This time, you only jumped one mile into the air.”

“Isra!” Coby whined crossly, shrugging the man off him, “When will you stop this?”

The cook said nothing, but the grin on his face answered Coby’s question as well as any words could have.

“Wait a moment,” Helmeppo said, eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion, “Shouldn’t you be in the kitchen now?”

“Ah, I’m off breakfast today. I’m in charge of inventory for the next island, and we’re a few days ahead of schedule,” he explained casually. The last part wasn’t a surprise to anyone; Garp had been pushing hard to reach their destination as fast as possible. His rush was allegedly due to a desire for a few days break on land, but based off where they were headed, Coby had the idea there was more to it.

“Didn’t you get the last inventory?” Coby asked. The last time he’d checked, Isra and the head chef had an ongoing agreement to pass the duty of stocking up back and forth, and he wouldn’t imagine Isra would be the one left responsible should the deal collapse.

“Sure did, but this island is a special case, so we’re making an exception,” Isra said.

That really didn’t actually clarify much aside from the fact that the deal hadn’t been dissolved. Water 7 wasn’t exactly known for being a culinary hub, and if it was, Coby had a feeling the two of them would plan and shop together for lack of the ability to decide who got to go.

The cook pinched the bridge of his nose in response to the teens’ matching blank stares.

“Don’t go spreading this around, but I happen to know some people in Water 7 who sell some of the best salt you can get on the grand line, and probably the world at large,” Isra explained quietly.

“Salt?” he asked dubiously, and his friend’s eyes lit up. Helmeppo picked up his half-full dish, and scurried away like prey whose predators turned on each other. Coby idly took notice of his own plate’s distinct lack of foodstuffs, and made quick work of plopping a good six balls of the takoyaki onto his plate.

“Every year these enormous waves come crashing down on the lower half of the city, and a few people have figured out how to harvest salt from this,” Isra hummed excitedly, “We’re actually showing up within a few weeks of this, so there should be a lot available, and I happen to know where to get it.”

“A wave overtakes the city?” the petty officer asked in mild awe, throwing some sauce packets onto his plate, and reaching for the fish.

“Only the lower half. Everyone down there has really good sealing on their buildings, and they all just go uphill for the night. It’s not really a big deal,” Isra shrugged noncommittally, nudging Coby towards the drink station.

“Wow,” Coby said as he picked up his plate, allowing himself to be directed.

It wasn’t long ago that he would have gasped in horror, he mused as he picked up a giant thermos of near-boiling water, pouring into the mug Isra had place before him.

“I can’t believe I’m used to this,” he muttered, plopping a bag of green tea into the mug.

“Used to what?”

He squinted at his friend incredulously, “Giant waves crashing on top of cities? Cities full of people who see it as a normal thing?”

“It happens at the same time every year. What else would they see it as?” Isra remarked, leaning against the table awkwardly.

Coby sighed, “I guess you’d feel the same way, having grown up on the Grand Line.”

“So has a large chunk of the world,” he said, “Statistically speaking, I could balk at how tame East Blue weather is and be perfectly justified.”

“Nu-uh,” Coby whined as they both made their way towards the table where Isra had left his own breakfast, “The Grand Line makes up like, twenty percent tops. That does not create a world-wide statistical average.”

“Neither does East Blue though! I know, you’re probably thinking about all the ‘Blues, but they’re all vastly different. Like in North Blue, things are pretty much like here, but with meaner people and what you would call sensible weather.”

“Well we are talking about weather,” he said as the two of them sat down, “And it’s not just what I call reasonable. Weather outside the grand line can actually be explained by science.”

The two passed by the table where Helmeppo had plopped down, and Coby motioned for him to follow. After a bit of scrambling, the blond fell in step with them relatively easily.

“I’m not just talking about the waves though. We have these same arguments about cultural stuff too, and this does apply there,” Isra insisted, coming up to an open notebook and unaccompanied bowl of soup seated across the table from one of the most terrifying and remarkable people on the ship… who Coby somehow managed to outrank.

“I really should have stayed,” Helmeppo groaned miserably, “I could have stopped this.”

“Oh hush, you don’t even know what we’re talking about,” Isra rolled his eyes as he sat down, and despite the offended look on his face, Helmeppo fell into place beside him. In that moment, Coby felt a small and unreasonable burst of panic pulse through him; the could see only one way to keep this from getting awkward.

“Good morning, Roronoa-san,” he said quietly as he set his plate down next to the man.

“Morning,” Zoro replied with a shrug.

“I don’t need to, I know it’s some dumb, pointless “debate” using obnoxious words because you two get some kick out of sounding like assholes, and it is too early for that.” Helmeppo said, sticking out his tongue.

“Says the guy who terrorized a town with a wolf and used his father as a way to blackmail the people into putting up with it,” Isra said with a smug grin, and Coby had to laugh.

“Will you guys let that go already?” Helmeppo wailed, planting his face firmly onto the table.

“I believe you’re the one who brought it up in the first place,” the chef retorted smoothly. And he had, every chance he’d gotten in the time before he learned the difference between achievements and sketchy, likely illegal advantages.

**Author's Note:**

> If this sounds familiar to you, that's because it is! I have something of a prototype on ff.net that I've been messing around with for a while as I got a handle on where I was going with this. I don't have a finished first draft sitting around, but I do have a few chapters that I'll have doctored up and ready for Ao3 very soon. 
> 
> Also I know this chapter is very Coby-centric, but they will both have plenty of time in the spotlight.


End file.
